All of the characters and the other story elements that are present in this story are entirely mine here, and are used fictitiously, unless otherwise stated.

Code: Lyoko and all related characters and/or settings, et cetera, are the property of their respective owners and related companies and/or people, and I claim no ownership rights, et cetera, to any of them for myself, where I do not have the right to do so, of course.

And before any of you actually ask here, nobody who's actually from Jeremy's group will be in this particular story just yet. That is all. Now on with the story!


Chapter Two: The Virtual War Has Only Just Begun


The following morning, when Thomas came downstairs for his breakfast, his father surprised him quite considerably by giving him two things, in very short order. A Bible and a laptop, as he'd soon learn, once he opened up the boxes containing them both and saw them completely as they then each were.

"Why are you giving me these things, Father?" asked Thomas, after he'd prepared a bowl of raisin bran for himself as part of his breakfast, and after Arthur had set one box on the table between them both from a blended leopard and zebra-patterned fine leather bag near his feet, with another barely sticking out of it and barely visible to Thomas as he began to sit down. He had a very surprised look on his face as he carefully sat down, so as not to accidentally spill some milk on the floor from his bowl. For he wasn't expecting anything new from his father anytime soon, in any case at all. Especially when it came to certain electronics-type things, for sure.

"Because I felt you really needed them both. Angela suggested that I give you these things after she came home from school yesterday. While you were still out, I braved the crowds of shoppers in the Fisher Hills Maze and bought them for you. May you find both of them quite useful in the future, Thomas." He had seen Thomas reading theology-related books and not just the Bible. Seeing as Thomas's current KJV Bible was extremely well-worn, he thought it would be wise to buy a new one for him, before his current one fell completely apart. "I also got you something else," Arthur said, a few minutes later, before again reaching into the bag and pulling out a second box, setting it next to the first one, even as Thomas was then closing his mouth around his spoonful of cereal. "I hope you don't think it's too much, but I know how much you need this for your studies."

"God willing, I hope that they will be, then, Father," said Thomas, with great thankfulness in his eyes, and a look that told Arthur that he should expect a hug not too much later. Even though Thomas and Arthur didn't necessarily hug each other very often, for they usually showed their gratitude to each other in other ways besides hugging. Or at least they normally didn't hug each other very long if and whenever they might periodically hug, anyway.

Thomas soon finished his breakfast, and gathered up everything that he'd need to bring with him to school that day. Not much later, after exchanging a somewhat brief, but not unimportant, hug with Arthur, he and his siblings each went off to their respective nearby schools. This time, he went to school with Angela, seeing as they both went to SPHS now in their lives, with her taking him there.

The school day was rather uneventful, except for a little while during lunch, as Thomas had it with Scarlett, Gawain, and Sylvester. While he was doing that, he suddenly experienced a vision of potential trouble in the near future. His eyes suddenly closed as he began experiencing that vision. And all movement stopped for him while he did.

The others watched him briefly, and then saw a blinking light from the inside of his mostly navy blue backpack. That light was coming from his new laptop. Scarlett moved to his backpack and took out his new laptop, opening it a few seconds later. Even while placing it where nobody else besides the four of them could currently see it well enough on their table. When she did, she soon saw the words, "Vision In Progress, Please Do Not Disturb The Data-Keeper," on its screen.

All of a sudden, Thomas reached out somewhat unconsciously, even while his eyes were still closed, and began typing on the laptop. The following words soon popped up in a window on the screen: "Prepare To Battle. The Virtual War Has Only Just Begun! Battle at 5 pm Eastern or 4 pm Central. And it's only on the Genesis Channel!" Then his fingers moved to the nearby mouse, and brought the mouse pointer to another window on the screen.

He clicked on that window, and the following words soon appeared, though not due to his own typing here: "To the Israelite Warriors: Prepare to meet your doom, by order of King Lucifer, at the hands of the Hadeans. We will love to defeat you in many battles to come in the future. And perhaps even capture you for permanent stays in Hades, if and whenever possible!"

Thomas typed, "Not likely, Demons! By the Power of the Blood, Victory is already ours!"

"We shall soon see, young Thomas, no doubt. We'll see just how powerful your King's Blood actually is, and if it can withstand the mighty power of our King Lucifer!" came a reply, mere seconds later.

"That we shall, Demons of Hades! That we shall! If you want a war, then we shall have a war, and you will most certainly lose, I'm quite sure!"

There were no further responses at this time from Thomas's computer opponents. So Tom soon closed that window and began closing others then on the screen as well. Ten seconds after he closed the last window, Tom's eyes suddenly opened, and he said, "It shall be a long drawn-out war, you three, and it'll not be an easy one to win, I'm quite sure. The Demons will most certainly do whatever they can to cause trouble for us and many others in the future, as we're waging it. It'll be up to us to help Tiffany as much as we possibly can, at least in terms of defending Israel. You'll be heading to an area of it called 'Egypt,' if I remember things well enough here. Though I could be wrong about that. Be at the same building we were at yesterday by 3:45."

Sylvester asked, "What do you know of this part for Israel?"

"Nothing except the name of that area, I believe. Sorry, Sylvester," said Thomas, in between a bite of a cheese sandwich and a sip of some milk.

"I see. Well, then I suppose we must be there by the necessary time," said Sylvester.

"Of course. Scarlett, do you have any plans for this afternoon after school?"

"Yes, I was planning to go out with Lucas Barnard to a movie." Lucas Barnard was a boy that Scarlett was at least a little interested in at the current time in her life. He was just about a year older than their new group's members generally were, more or less.

"Lucas will have to wait, it seems, Scarlett. I wish it weren't the case, but it looks like it will be," said Thomas, a few seconds later.

"He won't be happy, I can tell you that right now, Tom," said Scarlett, as a deep frown then appeared on her face, and as she began to rapidly clench and unclench her free hand in a fist, even while holding her milk carton in the other, out of sight of any of the boys now with her at their table.

"Well, Tiffany will be in considerable danger later, I'm quite sure. So she'll need your help, it seems, to get to another mound. There will be an activated mound in the 'Egypt' area of her realm later, from what my vision seems to have just told me here, Scarlett," stated Thomas, after another bite of his cheese sandwich.

Gawain said, about a minute later, with an increasingly excited look on his face, "Count me in, then. Anything for the wonderful Tiffany, Thomas."

"Scarlett, will you be there?" asked Thomas.

"Yes, I suppose so. I really don't like this, Tom." She squeezed her empty milk carton with a crushing grip in her fist several times until it finally appeared to be about half a typical strawberry's average size. But only Thomas saw her do so. Seeing as she was able to somehow do that, Thomas blinked a few times, not yet believing she'd just done that with her carton, before finding his voice. The others didn't notice what she'd done or Thomas's reaction.

"Nor do I, to tell you the truth. But it looks like we've all been drafted to help Tiffany out as much as we possibly can in the future, as she defends Israel to the best of her ability to do so right now," said Thomas, as they all finished their lunches not too much later. They all soon left the cafeteria behind for the day, not to reunite fully until it ended.

Promptly at 3:45 pm, they were all in the Computer Room. While Thomas checked several things on the main computer, the others went to the Booth Room, so that they could access Israel again. When they were ready to do so, he had them all enter their booths, and sent them there.

As he did, their 3-D faces popped up on three Salvation Cards along one edge of his main computer's screen, before flipping briefly to their backs. Scarlett's card back had three throwing stars in a upwards-pointing triangular formation, Sylvester's a single axe, and Gawain's, two crossed canoe paddles. Then all three cards turned back over to reveal their owners' 3-D faces.


The three Warriors went almost immediately in search of Tiffany, and ten minutes after materializing in a desert-like area, they were already battling various beings. These beings were mostly wolf-like or snake-like beings, with a few vulture-like ones thrown in every so often. As they battled those beings, Thomas searched both for the activated mound and for Tiffany. He found the mound first, and then Tiffany. He had the group begin fighting towards that mound, even as he still searched for Tiffany in Israel. So the group did so.

It took them about an hour to get reasonably close to it. When they'd finally done so after having taken out dozens of assorted beings between them all, Tiffany suddenly appeared quite near them. It'd taken her some time to find them from her main mound. For Demons had confused her with illusions and other things as she tried to access the nearest mound to the other Warriors sent to help her out. It took her several tries to find them, and for her to access the proper mound to get near them all.

She quite earnestly now joined the fight, and soon took out several Demons with some spiritual attacks of her own. Eventually, those attacks forced the Demons back from the Warriors for at least a little while, if not for a great while. As soon as she could safely then do so, she gladly introduced herself as Tiffany. Tiffany Novala Tecloma, in fact. And she also learned all her now-present fellow Warriors' respective names, in very short order.

When she did, she soon said, "It's a pleasure to meet you all. I hope that I can eventually come to your world someday in the future. And do so at least once, if not more than just once. In the meantime, though, I'm not able to cross over to your world in my life, somehow."

The four Warriors soon began running on the sand around them in Israel's Egypt area, with Tiffany often in the lead as they did so. Eventually, they came to the general area of the mound that'd been activated by a Demon of some sort. And when they did, several more Demons appeared to try to keep them from accessing it. Among them were several more Wolves and Snakes, along with the others they'd driven off before, but not yet destroyed or incapacitated by them, which had been brought elsewhere in Israel by means not yet known to any of the Warriors, whether in Israel or not, if they'd ever know how, somehow. But whether or not they'd ever know how they were, and who or what did so, that was yet-unknown, if it ever would be, as well.

The resumed battle was a tough one for the Warriors to win, at least until Tiffany suddenly shouted, "Divine Blood Soul Redemption!" When Tiffany did so, all the Demons who were now within range of her melodic, yet determined, voice were almost instantly stricken with great fear and great fright. They all began to howl like banshees at an almost deafening volume, even as they all tried to dodge more of Tiffany's spiritual attacks, as well. They all looked for possible escape routes from the now-hated place where they'd most recently encountered four Israelite Warriors. But their current attempts at escape were all soon squashed. And they were all quickly eliminated. And quite easily indeed, for that matter.

Once they all were, Tiffany had a secured path to the necessary mound in "Egypt." She then accessed the mound. But the others still couldn't come with her into it. So they all stayed near it, but not on it. About two minutes later, Tiffany accessed another touchpad, and the same words as before appeared on the nearby screen. As before, another light pillar soon appeared, with the exact same effects on the Warriors as the first one had left on them all after Tiffany had accessed the first mound she'd gone to in Israel's Babylon area.


When Scarlett, Sylvester, and Gawain all emerged from their booths again, it was nearly 6 pm. Sylvester was the first to speak. He said, "This Tiffany seems to be quite interesting. It should be a real challenge to fight alongside her against assorted Demons."

"I think I like her already, Sylvester," said Gawain. "She seems like my kind of girl." Gawain winked at Sylvester, quite secretly. For he didn't want Scarlett to see him do so.

"I hope she can find a way to make it so that we don't have to fight in Israel in the future, somehow," said Scarlett, after they finally were back in the Computer Room with Thomas.

"Don't count on it, Scarlett. At least not for some time, anyway. It seems that her existence is tied to Israel right now for some yet-unknown reason. Even if she might want not to be tied to it, she still is. And until that changes, then it seems it'll be necessary for at least a few of us to fight in Israel every so often, even if we might not actually want to." Thomas typed up several more things on the main computer even as he said all those things to her here and now.

"This really isn't fair to me, I think. I mean, forcing me to fight in Israel, that is," said Scarlett.

"Well, don't you think it's not necessarily fair to Tiffany for her to be forced to spend all her time in Israel? I happen to suspect that she'd actually like to eventually be able to get away from it every so often in her own existence, if and whenever she possibly could do that in it, Scarlett," said Thomas. "I realize I don't really know that much about her so far. But I honestly do think I certainly would feel just that way if I were somehow being forced to spend all my time in a virtual realm for whatever reason or reasons that she might now be forced to do just that here."

"True enough, I suppose, Thomas," admitted Scarlett, finally, after at least a few minutes of relative silence from her here.

"Well, I don't think any of us are going to have to go back there again for at least the rest of the current evening or night, in any case. So I suggest that we all get out of here, and go back to our respective residences, as quickly as we each possibly can. If any more trouble happens, I have a still-strange feeling that I'll probably be the first of us to know here, somehow. Get some rest, and hopefully you three won't have to fight in Israel again for at least a little while from now," said Thomas.

"You don't have to tell me twice, I suppose, Thomas," said Scarlett.

"Then I'll see you all tomorrow, God willing," said Thomas.

Sylvester said, "I wish I could spend more of my time there, everyone."

"As do I," said Gawain.

"We'll all see what the future holds. But until later, I suggest that you all get some more rest for at least a little while, if you can. I don't think Tiffany will need you again for at least a little while longer, in any case," said Thomas.

"Very well, Thomas. May we all have a good rest of the night. And may we all be quite refreshed when we come to school again in the morning," said Sylvester, a few seconds later.

As soon as Thomas finished typing up several more things on the main computer, he stood up and got out of his chair. They all soon followed him, rather unexpectedly, after he left the Computer Room. And he brought them all to the Production Room, which would be where they might periodically design and build assorted equipment for their future use later on, if and whenever possible. He'd learned about it while they'd all been trying to find Tiffany. And he'd done a little bit of investigation about it before the other three teens with him now had each returned from Israel, as well.

After about another five minutes of still-unplanned companionship there, he let them all leave. And none stayed more than five minutes longer after he did that. Not even Gawain, who might eventually prove to have the most mechanical expertise and skill for the group, stayed longer than five more minutes.

When they began parting for the night, it was then about 6:45 pm. Thomas was the last to leave the building complex. Even as he did so, he suddenly found himself tripping over a boys'-style bike near its main entrance. It was mostly cardinal red and navy blue in color, with a few other colors also present for it. He took the bike home with him.

He was home at his family's residence by 7:15, after riding for nearly half an hour. And he soon hid it in a small shed near the house. He hid it quite well, behind several book boxes that his father had just unloaded into that shed earlier that day, while Thomas and his new associates were still otherwise occupied.

After hiding his new bike quite well, he quietly slipped into the house, and upstairs to his and Silas's bedroom. Silas was then taking a brief nap elsewhere in it. So Thomas silently changed his clothes from the ones that he'd worn to school and to the building complex into considerably more casual ones. By the time that Silas finally began to stir, Tom was wearing a mostly light blue T-shirt, an older pair of stonewashed blue jeans, and a pair of tan moccasins. The T-shirt bore the words, "Castles and Crowns Chess Camp, Summer 2007," in a circle around six chess pieces of alternating colors. The White pieces were the King, Rook, and Knight, while the Black pieces were the Queen, Bishop, and Pawn. Several lines between each piece formed a six-pointed star, with the King at the top-most point and the Queen at the bottom-most point of it. The Rook was above the Pawn on his left. While on his right, the Knight was above the Bishop.

Thomas had attended that summer camp for three years in a row, and he had won the camp's Summer 2007 Championship trophy after beginning the final match with a Scotch Game opening. He had taken third at the camp in 2006, and fifteenth at it in 2005. Chess was his favorite board game to play, followed somewhat closely by checkers, in his life. However, it wasn't his primary interest in it.

His current primary interest in his life, at least in terms of what he most often preferred to do with his often-limited free time, was to quite often read assorted reading materials, if and whenever possible. Writing and computers were both significant enough interests of his, as well. But neither of those kinds of things were as much of an interest to him as reading now was. Or at least not currently, anyway.

At 7:30, then, Thomas and Silas were called for supper. Both soon went downstairs to have it. And after they had it, both of them eventually returned to their room for the night. First Silas, and then Thomas.

For Thomas had spent a little time longer in catching up with their father about things that had happened to them during the soon-to-end day. And they both had also read from the Bible every so often when they'd been catching up with each other during their conversation about the day. Mostly in Genesis, whenever they were both reading from it then.

By 8:30, Thomas was back in his and Silas's bedroom. Silas was just about to retire to his bed, but Thomas caught him just barely before he did. Thomas asked, "What's on your mind? Are you upset about something, by any chance at all, Silas?"

"No, I'm not. But I am curious about something. Have you ever been quite interested in a girl before?"

"Not really. Why do you ask?" asked Thomas, as he opened a math textbook then on his own desk in their shared bedroom.

"There is this girl who I think I might want to get to know at least a little bit better. She seems to be new to our town. And I have this rather strange feeling, somehow, that I might want to eventually spend a great deal of time with her in the future, if and whenever possible, Tom."

"I see. And has she shown any indication of perhaps wanting to get to know you at least a little bit better yet?"

"No, I can't say that she has. At least not yet, anyway."

"Well, perhaps you should play things by ear, and see how they might work out for the two of you. Do you even know her name yet?"

"No, I can't say that either, it seems."

"Well, then, Silas, you'll just have to wait and see what happens. Perhaps you might eventually learn her name later on this year. Until then, you should try to be patient, I suppose."

"I have never been one with much patience, you know, Tom."

"Maybe not. But patience is evidently considered a virtue, just the same, Silas."

"Very well, I will try to be patient, at least in that regard, if not any others as well. Good night." Silas then retired to his bed, and was quite soundly asleep no more than about five or ten minutes later. Tom soon turned off the necessary lights on Silas's side of the room, before turning back to his studies.

As Silas slept rather quietly and rather soundly, Tom studied and worked on his homework until it was almost 10. After which, he used his desktop computer as he then needed or desired to use it until 11:15, before shutting it down. By 11:30, he was in bed, and soundly asleep by 11:45.


Early Saturday morning, Thomas was unexpectedly drawn unconsciously to the building complex, instead of to the local library, contrary to his usual Saturday routine. He had his breakfast much earlier than he normally had it on Saturdays, and slipped out completely out of the immediate area of his family's residence by 6:30. He'd normally only arisen from his bed on Saturday mornings after 9. But he'd now done so about three hours earlier than normal. When he slipped out of his family's house by 6:20, he first left very brief notes on the dining room table and the girls' bedroom door. Then he retrieved his bike from where he'd hidden it before, and headed right for the building complex. He arrived there by 7.

By 7:15, he was already working on the main computer in the Computer Room. He typed for a while on it, and wasn't expecting to be disturbed as he did so. Suddenly, however, a short series of quick beeps got his immediate attention. Those beeps were from Tiffany, who'd unexpectedly just been woken up by some earthquake-like tremors in Israel's Egypt area. He heard those beeps, and then clicked on a window that'd just popped up on his screen. He saw her 3-D face for the first time, when he did, and a Salvation Card soon flipped over briefly in that same window, in order to reveal a card back that now bore a flaming torch on it.

Tiffany was a girl who appeared to be about Thomas's age. She was then wearing her usual fighting uniform under a mostly tan and copper-colored bathrobe, which she'd quickly thrown on after being suddenly woken up. Her hair was black, and it fell roughly to the middle of her back, more or less. It was now being worn completely unbound, as was normally the case for her in her life of a sort.

Tiffany now appeared to be about four inches taller and about ten pounds heavier, more or less, than Scarlett now was. She had a somewhat slender, yet strong, look to herself, with a moderately small scar on her left cheek, due to a much-unexpected accident when she was much younger than she now was. That particular scar had resulted from a rather unexpected fall during a camping trip with her parents while hiking together in Japan. Several stitches later, the injury had been taken care of quite well. But a scar still remained as evidence of that fall. It had faded from view to a degree over time, but never totally. And it never would, most likely.

Thomas and Tiffany conversed for a while with each other as needed or desired, but still without Tiffany being able to see Thomas's face. They got to know each other a little bit better. Or at least until more, and stronger, tremors began to make themselves known in the Egypt part of Israel, anyway.

Tiffany briefly left her current screen in Israel, and peeked outside the mound that she'd come to most recently. She saw no Demon-caused activity of any kind in her current mound's immediate area, when she did so. So she came back into it, and turned back to her current screen in Israel. She soon began searching for where the epicenter of those tremors might be in Israel's Egypt area, and eventually learned that they were near a rather distant mound elsewhere in it.

Thomas asked, "Do you have any ideas that might work well enough for us all in the future here, if I might ask you this here, Tiffany?

"As a matter of fact, I do. I'm sending you some data on vehicles you might find useful for the other Warriors in various parts of Israel. Send it to your Production Room's computer network, just as soon as you can. Robots in that part of your building complex will need to build prototypes of these vehicles to try out in your world, it seems, so that the other Warriors can train with them whenever they're not here with me in Israel. However, they won't be transferrable to it at this time, if ever, Thomas. Copies of them are in existence, as far as I can gather, elsewhere in it. But just where they all are in it, I'm not quite sure yet. Though I hope to find out, eventually, if and whenever I can."

"How soon do you want me to summon the other Warriors, Tiffany?"

"Now, if you possibly can, Thomas."

"Scarlett won't like this one bit."

"That's a chance we'll just have to take. It seems at least a few dozen Wolves, Snakes, and Panthers are now beginning to head this way. And I won't necessarily be able to stay in here for a long time, if they actually decide to try attacking this mound for at least a while, if not a good while."

"As you wish, Tiffany. I will summon them all just as quickly as I can, then."

"Thank you. I can maintain the shields over this mound for about another fifteen minutes or so, maybe, but not much longer than that, before I might have to leave it to battle the Demons here."

"Understood." Thomas paged the other Warriors through the calculator-appearing communicators that he'd given them a while before. As expected, Scarlett was quite unhappy about him doing so. But she still agreed to come and try to help out. Sylvester and Gawain, however, came with no argument or delay of any kind whatsoever about whether they should come or not to the building complex.

Scarlett arrived first at the building complex, her anger at being woken up during her usual Saturday sleeping-in causing her adrenaline to make her go there quite a bit faster than normal on foot. When she got to the Computer Room, she asked, "Did you really have to get me up so early on Saturday morning, Thomas?"

It was now just about 8:30 in the morning. Thomas said, after taking a few deep breaths, so as to hopefully say so calmly enough here, "Yes, unfortunately so, Scarlett. Tiffany has detected the presence of another activated mound. And she is now trapped inside the mound that you escorted her to most recently, by at least several dozen Wolves, Snakes, and Panthers, from what she told me a little while ago."

"Sylvester and Gawain?"

"On the way here, but they don't live quite as close to here as you seem to. You are probably about half a mile away from here, if I read this area's residential map well enough, Scarlett. The others are about twice that, at least, away from here, in terms of their respective family residences, it seems. So it's probably often going to be harder for them to get here as fast as you can in the future, if we're not actually coming here from the same place or places in the local area."

"I see. Can you tell me what to expect, when I get there?"

"A lot of Demons." Thomas then briefed her just as quickly and as best as he possibly could about the current Tiffany and Israel-related situation, and he was just finishing up doing so as the boys arrived in the Computer Room. Scarlett immediately took charge of her fellow Warriors here, and instantly ordered Sylvester and Gawain to follow her to the elevator that'd take them all to the Booth Room. She was fully intent on getting all the necessary things done as quickly and as safely as possible, so that she then could hopefully go back to bed at her place as soon as possible after the upcoming fight, if at all possible.

Sylvester and Gawain then hurried to the necessary elevator, entering it just after she did. Moments later, the three of them were in the Booth Room. Soon accessing their respective booths, they all then mentally prepared to fight various Demons.

Minutes later, they all materialized quite near where they'd been when they'd all last seen Tiffany, and engaged dozens of now-visible Demons near that mound. It took them several minutes for them all to force those Demons back far enough to make it possible for Tiffany to exit that mound and join the battle as well. But eventually, just before the shields around it would've failed completely, they were able to do that. That done, Tiffany soon joined them all outside it.

The four Warriors then all began fighting their ways towards the activated mound elsewhere in the Egypt part of Israel. Of course, they each took hits periodically, due to the not-inconsiderable numbers of assorted Demons that they were now battling. It took them about three or four hours, due to rather strong opposition from numerous Demons, to even get within about two miles of the activated mound. But eventually, they all somehow managed to do that without being killed or dematerialized because of battle injuries or damage to them or to their equipment of whatever kind or kinds. It then took them all about another forty minutes in order to fight their ways to just outside the activated mound. And Tiffany was finally able to access it, and shut it down as needed, not too long afterward.

When she did, Scarlett, Sylvester, and Gawain were all sent back to the real world, and Tiffany to another alcove of some yet-unknown sort, exactly as they'd earlier been sent to such places from Israel. As before, Tiffany had still wished to be able to go with her three companions to the real world. Even though she knew that just wasn't possible yet, if it ever would be somehow.


The three Warriors who weren't tied exactly as Tiffany was to Israel emerged from their booths just before 1 pm. After they did, Scarlett soon led them out of the Booth Room and into the necessary elevator. A few minutes later, they were all in the Computer Room. However, Thomas was not there, rather unexpectedly for them all. He'd left a short note on top of the main computer's keyboard on a small sheet of paper. The note said, "Gone to the Production Room. Am now attending to new equipment design and construction."

Scarlett was the first to see the note, and when she did, she said, "This had better be good."

"Relax, Scarlett. If he is not here at the main computer, then there must be a fairly good reason why he is not," said Sylvester, trying to calm her down considerably by doing a little dance in front of her.

"There had better be. I really don't like having to come here in the first place, you know, boys."

Gawain said, "Perhaps the Data-Keeper has new information and stuff for us to use."

"The Data-Keeper, Gawain?" asked Scarlett.

"Yes, it seems that Tom is the Data-Keeper, by his own self-titling, Scarlett," answered Gawain.

So they all went to the Production Room. When they got there, Thomas was looking over a few things that he'd told the robots there to start working on. One of them was already completely built, according to the specifications that Tiffany had earlier given Thomas before he'd summoned the rest of the Warriors to the building complex through their communicators.

This thing that'd been completed first was a prototype racing vehicle of the open-wheel variety, reduced in size as needed, considering the person who'd most often be using it. That vehicle was mostly green and gold, and it had the number 3 on its nose. It looked slightly futuristic, in its basic nature and design, and several slots were closed at the present time on its chassis.

Scarlett asked, "Who gets this vehicle, Thomas?"

"This prototypical one belongs to Sylvester," said Thomas. "The two other prototypes are still to be built. They both are still in the design process, it seems. Even yours. Do you want to see what we have so far for your own prototype?"

"Might as well. You're not going to let me go home again for a while, right?"

"I suppose you could leave. But if you do, your prototype might not look and be just like you might want or need it to be, Scarlett," said Thomas.

"Fine, I'll stick around for a while, I guess. Let's see what you have come up with so far."

Thomas soon brought them to where another computer was in the Production Room, and he accessed the keyboard there briefly. A holographic representation of Scarlett's prototype as it now stood appeared almost instantly on a nearby assembly line, at its very head. A mostly maroon and silver train locomotive appeared there. It was also slightly futuristic, yet slightly traditional, in its current appearance. The basic lines of it looked more futuristic than traditional. But the outside of the locomotive appeared to be more traditional than futuristic, at least in terms of its decoration. Assorted weapons systems were aboard it, whether for offensive purposes, defensive purposes, or purposes anywhere in between. After Scarlett looked over the holographic version of her prototypical vehicle for a while, she said, "Thomas, it's going to be kind of hard for me to go around the area in a locomotive, you know."

"True enough. Tiffany and I, after considerable discussion, decided to make it possible for you to hide the locomotive's presence around town by making it appear like you're on roller skates whenever you're using it to get around the area. And, in order to hopefully be able to help you out with that sort of thing, we've both decided that you should wear a pair of earrings if and whenever possible. We've designed a pair of earrings that look like throwing stars. All we need to know is whether or not you'd prefer them to be of the pierced-ear or clip-on varieties, before we can construct them."

She thought for a few moments in relative silence, more or less, before finally saying, "Make them of the pierced-ear variety. Mother and I are going to be going shopping after school on Monday, if I remember correctly. We are planning to get my ears pierced then."

"How do you want them to appear, then?"

"Show me what you have come up with so far for them, Thomas."

So Thomas did so, by clicking on another window on the same screen near Scarlett's prototypical vehicle. The window soon opened to its maximum available size, and Scarlett saw two different styles of earrings in the chosen style. She studied them both for a little while, and then said, "Preferably the one that has three joined stars hanging from my earlobes on both sides, Thomas, if and whenever possible, please."

"Do you want to have stud-style earrings like the others, as well, just in case you can't wear the others at times, then, Scarlett?" asked Thomas.

"Very well. I suppose I should have them as well, Thomas."

"As you wish, Scarlett. When you eventually do get your ears pierced, and are ready for them all, then you most certainly will receive earrings such as you've just said you wished to have here. But until then, at least, you won't actually be able to wear any of these various earrings, either here or in Tiffany's virtual realm, just so you know."

"Understood, Thomas. How soon will my prototype vehicle be ready for testing?"

"I don't know yet. We still have to decide how to outfit it much more, you know, Scarlett."

"Granted. Is that all you have to say to me right now, then, Thomas?"

"I suppose so, Scarlett."

Then she briefly smiled a little smile. After she did that, Thomas quickly moved over to still another computer and assembly line, as the others followed. He typed up a few things on it, and Gawain's prototypical vehicle soon appeared in holographic form as it now stood. It looked now like a mostly purple and orange canoe. But that'd not be its only actual form of existence, most likely. The other form would be some sort of mini-tank, if and whenever it was possible for it to be in that particular form of appearance later on.

Its weapons systems were currently hidden from view, as they normally would be, whether Gawain was in it while it was in its canoe form or in its mini-tank form. Thomas and Gawain discussed Gawain's prototypical vehicle with each other for some considerable length of time, before Gawain looked suddenly at a watch then on his left wrist. Gawain then said, "Thomas, we're going to have to continue this discussion about my new prototypical vehicle at least a little bit later, if not a lot later. It seems to me now, come to think of it, that I actually do have a prior commitment to meet someone rather important at a Chinese restaurant elsewhere in town by 3:30 this afternoon. Someone who I have quite often worked with to a rather considerable degree in the past on various musical compositions of my own, in fact."

"Very well, Gawain. You may go, if you need to, then," said Thomas.

"May I as well, Thomas?" asked Scarlett.

"Of course you can go now, and do whatever you want to do in your life. Again, I'm quite sorry that you actually had to be summoned here so early in the morning. I didn't even expect to be in this building complex that early, either. But I was somehow drawn here rather unconsciously, it seems, for some yet-unknown reason or reasons. So I can fully understand where you're coming from here, Scarlett," said Thomas.

Sylvester said, "My parents are not home right now, it seems. The last I saw of them, they were sleeping in their bed after having evidently partied most of yesterday in various places around the local area. And that was last night. When I woke up this morning, not long before you summoned me, they were already gone from our residence, presumably to do even more partying today, based on what I know of them so far in my life."

"What do you mean, Sylvester?" asked Scarlett, as she began preparing to leave the Production Room behind in very short order.

"My parents are what you three might call 'Professional Partiers,' I think, Scarlett. They generally spend most, if not all, of their waking hours partying, it seems. I rarely see them, and they me. I often have to keep up things in their house. Which usually means a lot of work for me in it. When I go to school, they are usually away from home again. And when I come back, they usually still are."

"So you generally have to feed and clothe yourself on a typical day?" asked Gawain, just as he began heading away from the other three teens then with him.

"Yes, as a matter of fact, that is often true, Gawain. And I generally have to feed our birds, guinea pigs, and cats while they are out and about, as well."

"How do you put up with it, then, Sylvester?" asked Thomas, wondering more about how Sylvester was able to cope with his own personal circumstances as he apparently was able to now.

"I am the only child of my parents. And we don't have many real friends in our lives. Not even I do," said Sylvester, with a bit of a frown then on his face.

"Can't you just run away, Sylvester?" asked Scarlett.

"I suppose I could. But if I did, none of our animals would likely be taken care of, Scarlett. And my parents would just continue to live the way they do, I think, even if I did so. They have been doing this sort of thing for as long as I can currently remember in my life."

"I see. Can't we report them to the local authorities, then, for definite parental neglect, Sylvester?" asked Scarlett, somewhat dumbfounded that his parents were apparently so careless and so self-centered as to not seem to really care much about him, even though he was their only child, in their respective lives, but only care about themselves more often than not.

"Doubtful. They have too many influential friends of a sort around them at the present time. And it probably would make things much worse for me in my life, as well, if we did so. At least as of the current time, anyway, Scarlett."

Eventually, the four teens parted again from each other for the rest of the day, at least, if not for even longer than that. Even Thomas eventually left the building complex, but he didn't leave it again until just after 5 in the afternoon. For he still wanted to spend some more time trying to get to better know Tiffany here, if at all possible. So he did so, before eventually leaving the entire building complex again.

He briefly went on his bicycle to the neighborhood library, and spent just about an hour, more or less, there, before leaving it again. He headed right home after then leaving the library. By 6:30, he was back at his family's residence. Just as he'd done at least once or twice before, he then hid his bike in the same place he'd hidden it before. With that done, he soon slipped into the house and went up to his room without being seen at all. When he got to his room, he then gathered up some clothes from his dresser in the room, and prepared for a good long shower. As soon as he'd made sufficiently sure that he'd not be disturbed, he then went for a fifteen-minute shower, before changing into the clothes he'd just picked out for the rest of the evening and/or night, if not even longer.

Ten minutes after getting dressed in his post-shower clothes, he went downstairs for supper with his family. After supper, he went back to his room, and generally stayed there for the rest of the night. Tom went to bed by 11, and read for a while in his bed. At 11:30, he set the English-Hebrew / Hebrew-English dictionary he'd just been looking through quite near him on a bedside table, and turned off all his lights. Silas's lights were already all off when he did so. For Silas had turned them off when he himself had retired to his own bed around 8:30. As usual, Tom was quite soundly asleep by 11:45 pm.


The newly-revised third chapter of Code Israel: Genesis will be up soon here, I expect. If you have any good ideas for possible pairings of the main characters, as long as they are straight ones, I'm quite willing to hear them. I really hope that you'll enjoy this story and its related series quite a bit. Please do often read and review quite constructively, if at all possible and if you feel the need or desire to do so, people. Until later, then, this is The Universal Storyteller saying, "Over and out!"